Chapter Sixty Nine

She wasn't the first one there that morning; Mark was standing next to the coffee maker waiting for the first pot to fill up. He turned to see who had come in this early and when he saw her he paled.

"Jesus! Elena, You look like hell! Oh, god, I'm sorry, you just startled me."

"That's okay, mark. Don't worry about it."

Her voice was soft and there was no emotion in it. She walked past him and went to her desk, setting her purse next to her chair. Mark followed her and was stood a few feet away, giving her some space.

"What happened, Elenw?"

Mark was really concerned for her. He remembered when her parents had been killed and she hadn't looked this bad then. Obviously there was something horribly wrong in her life for her to look and act like this. She looked dead.

She turned to look at him and tried to give him a smile, but she failed to produce anything more than a twitch of her lips.

"Personal life troubles."

She pulled out her chair and sat down. She flipped the switch on her compu